


Dennis and the R Word

by singingtomysoul



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Other, and how you Need to Understand That Thing, and the thing that he does to women, it's sort of about dennis and the thing that happened to him, meta meta meta, no seriously just a walltext of meta no one will read probably, rape mention, uhm a lot more than mention really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-11
Updated: 2017-05-11
Packaged: 2018-10-30 14:24:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10878654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/singingtomysoul/pseuds/singingtomysoul
Summary: I was having a thinky-thought about one of my favorite fictional characters of all time, and his treatment of women, and then this bit of walltext happened.Dennis Reynolds is a rapist. This is explicit in the text of the show, over and over again. And it's the most important part of his character, not because you're not allowed to identify with him and feel for him, but because the fact that he rapes women informs SO MUCH of who he is.





	Dennis and the R Word

I know I don't go on Tumblr anymore and the fandom's evolved a lot in the past half a year or so, I know there's pockets of wank about X Pairing and Y Trope and I'm mainly watching them and wincing. But I've not really seen anyone actually fully cover this and WHY I personally feel it's important, and why I think certain portrayals of Dennis in fic and meta can sometimes make people uncomfortable. So I just wanted to lay this out there:

Dennis Reynolds is a rapist. This is explicit in the text of the show, over and over again. And it's the most important part of his character, not because you're not allowed to identify with him and feel for him, but because the fact that he rapes women informs SO MUCH of who he is.

Dennis is a rapist because he was raped as a teenager and to survive that trauma, he decided men can't be raped because they're the powerful ones. And Dennis is a rapist because between a neglectful father and a narcissistic mother, he was taught that being desirable was the currency by which you achieve worth in your life.

He's a rapist because he watched Frank Reynolds talk about women for 40 years of his life. He's a rapist because he watched society talk about women and say their worth is based on how desirable they are. He's a rapist because he feels the emptiness that abuse victims and people with personality disorders can often feel, and he tries to fill it, pathologically, with sex.

Dennis is a rapist because he learned that his sister was a mistake and he was a gift when they were born at the same time. He's a rapist because he learned winning is important, and in order to win you can't listen to 'no' or 'don't' or 'stop'. He's a rapist because he feels so constantly, painfully out of control that he needs control in every way he can get it, so he can keep a handle on who he is supposed to be. 

And he's a rapist because he's someone who'd rather be selfish than be kind, who insists he's a success and a gift rather than deal with failure or pain, no matter who he hurts in the process.

Failing to understand that Dennis is a rapist, and that he's a rapist for all of these reasons, means you're missing a fundamental part of the character he's written to be.


End file.
